FS new blue cloth and valve adjusting tool

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Bert Poliakoff said:
I don’t need more proof as I have sold over 300 of the cloths world wide over the last 3 1/2 years. It’s your perogative to be doubtful but I think the numbers speak for them selves.
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I don't think the number of cloths sold has anything to do with "proof". Proof means that there's substantiated evidence that the cloths indeed were supplied with our coupes by the factory. That's the real issue here, important because it sets the record straight so that hopefully over time, fiction does not become fact. Now if someone doesn't care whether the cloths are correct for e9s, or just likes the idea of having one in there tool kit, or thinks it looks cool, or is willing to pay whatever price to have one, that's another story. But let's not conflate the desire to have a cloth with the accuracy of it being in the tool kit in the first place.

BMW, of all the marques I'm very familiar with (Ferrari, Porsche, Alfa Romeo), suffers the most from fast and loose deviations from stock, so in the interest of preservation and stewardship I like to see originality verified and maintained as much as possible.
 
It seems very simple to me. There are quite a few original owners on this board, or second owners that are in close contact with original owners. Do any of you original owners have the cloth in your kit when bought new? None? OK, end of story......... If not, speak up and tell us what you think. I doubt there are any open toolkit brochures from the 70's that show the cloth in the kit with BMW logo. They are not listed in the original owners manual as far as I know along with all the other tools, so, let's put this to rest.

They are a nice touch and dampen extra tool movement on the right side of toolbox when kit is closed with tools, they serve a purpose (cleaning tools etc.). What one pays for it is up to them. Get a stencil and do your own if you don't want to pay the $30 or just put a blue rag in your toolkit, who cares? Whatever blows your hair back!

But I also don't like it when people try and pass something off as fact, when it is pure fiction. Tool kits are already becoming hard to find complete, this would just be one less thing to worry about. I'm really hoping they never go the Porsche route at $7,500 a pop. What will these rags be going for then if they need to be in kit? $200?? C-mon, knock it off.
 
Blue Cloth.

Hi; Just remember that the Blue Cloth was not an item in the E9 Coupe Tool Box. So what I'm getting at and a bit confused is if your a purist of collectors why would you want an item in the box that does not belong?
Also for the purist who wants an original slightly used,I have three coming ans I expect I will give one to my son for his car. Make offers to be the first. Thanks
Koopman
 
The real irony is that I would never actually use a pristine cloth (correct or not) to wipe off anything! I keep a cheap shop rag in the coupe for that...
 
To add a little humor........it beats using leaves or accidentally grabbing some poison oak in the dark in the middle of nowhere when your car broke down and you need to go #2......;) Just sayin....
 
i bought my '73 bavaria in 1982. it had a blue cloth in its toolbox - i was the 2nd owner. i still have the blue cloth from that car. wish i had kept the red screwdrivers.
 
I find it fascinating that we can create our mythology regardless of what the factory did.
The shroud of Turin is valuable even if it is fake, and especially if the forgery is traced back to Leonardo da Vinci, as some argue.

Off to X-ray my blue cloth to see if it bears the image of a previous owner or a board member...
 
Arde said:
I find it fascinating that we can create our mythology regardless of what the factory did.
The shroud of Turin is valuable even if it is fake, and especially if the forgery is traced back to Leonardo da Vinci, as some argue.

Off to X-ray my blue cloth to see if it bears the image of a previous owner or a board member...
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Maybe in a thousand years BMW owners will kneel and worship before the Shrine of the Blue Cloth...
 
Well, I have one in the tool box as it looks cool, nothing more, and it keeps small items from sliding around.

It is not listed in the Orange Parts books, the owner's manuals or the Sales brochures as an option either. It might have been on the dealer's parts shelf, who knows. If the e12 had them they came out in 1972 in Europe.
 
The X-ray is back, you are not going to believe the image that came out. I should have know!


LenS said:
Maybe in a thousand years BMW owners will kneel and worship before the Shrine of the Blue Cloth...
Click to expand...
 
Arde said:
The X-ray is back, you are not going to believe the image that came out. I should have know!
Click to expand...

Was it Richard Simmons as you expected?

93bba905-b9af-4fc2-a902-ffab83a84b40.jpg
 
Recently there was a discussion about allowing vendors on e9. The consensus, for a variety of reasons, was NO.

So after reading Burt's posts I conclude that he is a vendor. 300 blue cloths sold at a hefty profit(see my post above for a breakdown of his price and costs) alone qualify him.

And he has posted many different parts for sale over a long period of time. He also sells on the internet. This situation is dissimilar to virtually all the other posts involving barn finds, parts stashes, selling for friends and relatives.

My other problem is the "original" blue cloths. The language in his advertisements, and yes, they are advertisements, clearly claims the tool kits in our cars came equipped with the blue cloth with the Roundel printed on it.

If you go back and read all the posts associated with the blue cloths you will see that it is unnamous, they were NOT a part of an original kit from the factory or a dealer.

I have spoken with Richie Brown who lives in NYC and is the first owner of his coupe. It DID NOT come with a cloth. He also cites three other original owners he knew personally. None of them had a blue cloth in their tool kit. Dan has cited Murry as the authority that the cloths did NOT come in our kits.

And yet the sale continues. Most of us want our coupes to be as complete as possible. I hunted for a windshield wiper motor cover and finally found one in Australia. The e9 member sent it to me for the cost of shipping. Originality is important to most of us. And Burt is counting on that to sell his cloths to over 300 buyers, many of them believing the cloths are essential to creating an full, original tool kit.

Steve
 
I do sell hard to find tool kits here whenever I can put one together which is a time consuming and hard to do, and maybe 1 or 2 transmissions and diffs. I also try to participate in the forum itself. I am restoring an early euro E24 nut and bolt, even as far as replating every screw, bolt and nut.The E24 people think it may be the best in the country, but that is up for grabs. In trying to get my car back to pure euro spec i have figured out many restoration solutions which I do share, when appropriate. So I feel I am also a contributor rather than someone who uses this forum strictly to my own ends.

In selling my cloths, I have never claimed they were original. i usually use the verbiage sourced by me and as original. I may add that both Carl Nelson and Peter Sliscovitch feel my cloths are appropriate as they both buy them in multiples. In fact I was at Carl’s Friday and he bought some other parts from me. Mario too has also bought from me, though just a side loader

The parts I do sell are the hard to find things like lsd side loaders, dog legs early OD trannys and of course tool kits. There are several things I have made that are unobtainium or hard to find. The cloths, spin on oil filter adapters and euro stripes for e 24s, E23s and E 30s. These items are strictly available from me and as far as I can tell no one else. Any of the parts I make/have made are all USA made..no Chinese garbage.
Do I sell on Ebay?? Maybe one item a month. Do I spend many hours of my time searching for parts/ Ask Harry,Koopman, how much time he spends on his computer daily to also find what he feels are hard to find items. Do I also spend hours also looking and many times beating a dead horse for several weeks at a time if not more. Do I make money on these parts? Of course I do. Do I provide a fair service? That is a matter of what you fellows feel.

I feel like it has been beat up Bert week and if you fellows feel I am inappropriate to your forum, say so. My feedback here shows happy people, but again, what ever you guys feel is appropriate. I
certainly don’t make a living out this but just use it to feed my E24 to an ungodly amount of restoration costs. Should I be in a position to have to defend myself? I think not and welcome more feedback. Any problem I had here, which was only once, was settled within minutes of being informed by promptly sending the money back to the member
 
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all is well

there are a lot of bad comments AROUND HERE that have been directed at a lot of people
it seems to me they dont have ANY KIND OF CLASS
KNOW WHTAT I MEAN
 
hang in their Bert, you are one of the good guys that have helped a lot of us out. i have bought 3 or 4 things from Bert and only have very positive things to say about every transaction
 
Bert Poliakoff said:
Any problem I had here, which was only once, was settled within minutes of being informed by promptly sending the money back to the member
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Bert,

I am assuming this is me. We are all good so if you want me to explain in 100% honesty what happened and those on here that are senior members know I am a straight shooter I will tell the story. Sh&t happens and I feel like this blue rag thing is finally put to rest. THEY WERE NEVER A PART OF THE TOOLKIT......PERIOD! So now all the judges know this and won't deduct points, great, whatever...

That being said, this other issue has nothing to do with that, more on the tool side which is more along the lines of what you supply here to members of the board. I wanted to say something earlier but didn't because I was new to the board. I would love to tell the story just because it is very relevant to this conversation and the integrity of the board and it's members.

I by no means want to hurt your reputation but want to tell what happened with us so that what happened does not happen to anyone else thinking they are getting one thing, when indeed it is another. Like you said it was resolved in minutes. You handled it like a gentleman and we moved on with me even buying stuff from you later including these Mayan made blue blood sacrificial rags to the BMW gods... and I have no problem with the cost of the towels as they are also known or the valve adjuster.

Now.... I think these will be even be harder to come by because of this thread. This might be the best thing that ever happened to your sales, trust me. I tried making light of everything earlier but if I am the one you are referring to I would love to share my story, even if I am not, maybe now is the time. To be continued depending on response....
 
I sell things here occasionally, hope I'm not considered a professional seller! I am fine with Bert and his products, they help owners like us.
 
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